FEBRUARY 19, 2021 FRIDAY FIRST READING “Is this the fast I like? " from the book of the prophet Isaiah (58, 1-9a)

FEBRUARY 19, 2021 FRIDAY 

FIRST READING 

“Is this the fast I like? " 

from the book of the prophet Isaiah (58, 1-9a) 

Thus says the Lord God: Cry out loud! Do not hold yourself back ! Let your voice rise like the horn! Denounce their revolt to my people, their sins to the house of Jacob. They come to consult me ​​day after day, they want to know my paths. Like a nation that would practice righteousness and not forsake the right of its God, they ask me for righteous ordinances, they would like God to be near: "When we fast, why do you not see him? When we do penance, why don't you know it? Yes, but the day you fast you know how to do your business well, and you treat those who toil for you harshly. Your fast is spent in arguments and quarrels, in savage punches. It is not by fasting like you do today that you will make your voice heard up there. Is this the fast that I like, a day when man is demeaning himself? Is it about bowing your head like a reed, lying on sackcloth and ashes? Do you call it a fast, a day pleasing to the Lord?

The fast that pleases me, isn't it this: to drop unjust chains, to loosen the ties of the yoke, to give freedom to the oppressed, to break all yokes? Is it not to share your bread with him who is hungry, to welcome the poor without shelter into your home, to cover the one you see without clothing, not to hide yourself from your fellow man? Then your light will shine like the dawn, and your strength will quickly return. Your righteousness will walk before you, and the glory of the Lord will close the rear. So if you call, the Lord will answer; if you shout, he will say, “Here I am. " 

The Word of the Lord.

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